The present invention relates to an adjustable coif intended for headgear and headgear incorporating such a coif.
Numerous headgear, particular headgear with a rigid structure such as protection helmets or safety hats or technical head equipment (radio equipment, gas masks, etc . . . ), must be accurately positioned on the head of the user.
In some cases, a particular coif pattern is made in different sizes. It is even sometimes necessary to adapt each coif, during manufacture thereof, to the head of the user for whom it is intended. However, the construction and management of a complete range of products is not always possible and often costly. This is why numerous headgear are equipped with an inner adjustable lining called "coif".
Such coifs are generally formed by a set of cloth or leather straps, webbing, or strips whose length may be modified by buckles or adjustable fasteners so as to adapt them to different head sizes. These coifs comprise a headband. As its name indicates, the headband is intended to be placed around the head of the user and its size is adjustable. The coif bottom is formed mainly of bands connected together and to the headband. Their size, which determines the distance between the headband and the upper portion of the head of the user, is also adjustable. To provide stability of the headgear on the head and correct positioning thereof, which is particularly important when the headgear comprises accessory equipment, the coif must be accurately adjusted. It is then suitably fitted to the shape of the head and supported without trouble by the user. Positioning of the headgear, as will be well understood, is particularly important for masks or head equipment comprising a face-piece which provides breathing protection. In fact, in these cases, the external portion of the headgear generally serves for fastening elastic straps which apply the face-piece to the face. Any modification of the headgear on the head changes the direction and value of the forces which combine to provide sealing of the face-piece.
Experience shows that the coif is generally imperfectly adjusted by users. That is due either to the complexity of the different webbing and straps forming the coif which do not permit perfect fitting to the shape of the head, or else to the fact that the successive approaches for obtaining correct adjustment both of the headband and of the coif bottom are too fastidious for the user who then makes do with an approximate adjustment.
In other cases, the complexity of adjustment leads to a form of personalization of the headgear by the user, which limits its versatility in use and thus causes an increase in the number of lead helmets required.